Seinen xxxHolic by CLAMP

[<.Haruka.>]

Re: xxxHolic 211 Discussion/212 Predictions Thread

Its kinda difficult to predict what events would happen on the end chapter. The latest chapter release was just like an ordinary day scene for the magic shop where a customer was granted a wish and the wish has an equal price to be paid for. To think there are quite some questions left unanswered on the manga like what happens on the egg Doumeki was keeping, Waytanuki's real name and existence still unknown and more about Yuuko.
(Though I kind a sense a bit of cliche/clue from chapter 212 raws on Yuuko's comeback...)

I'm wondering if the last chapter would be like Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles which the finale is open-ended and the characters would make crossover.
I'm thinking also that a special chapter could be possible just to catch up in an abrupt end of the series unless the last chapter would be an extra long one.

 

[<.Haruka.>]

xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

Just came across at Failmanga's site and i was surprised to see chapter 212 scan.

Watanuki kept seeing a dream about a butterfly but he doesn't know whose dream it belongs to. He tells it to Doumeki that he kept seeing the dream more than once. The last page was surprising because the butterfly has a company with a lady who resembles the previous owner of the magic shop but has wings of a butterfly.

I just wonder what will happen on the next and last chapter...

 

[feisu-chan]

Re: xxxHOLIC spoilers thread

Spoiler

Last episode of xxxHolic?! woooow! i didn't guess it would be that soon! Then, Yuuko would finally show up, and may tell Watanuki to stop waiting for her because she already died and she could never come back again.

 

[feisu-chan]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 Predictions Thread

butterflies usually meant reincarnations, maybe Yuuko is telling that she has been finally reincarnated with the one she loves, or maybe not, but she's now at peace and with Clow Reed now. I'm guessing that she will not return and just tell Watanuki to live his own life and stop waiting for her.

aw! xxxHolic is finally coming to an end...

 

[Tsukisama]

Re: The Yuuko Ichihara Shrine

Heads up for all Yuuko fans!

Go support her in the MangaHelpers Manga Awards! She is nominated for Best Female Supporting Character. Leave a post letting others know why she is so great!

While you are over there, feel free to look at all of the other categories and weigh in!

 

[Tsukisama]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 Predictions Thread

So, does anyone have any predictions for the final chapter?

I hope that we see Himawari as she is now. I wouldn't want the series to end with seeing her one last time. I also would like to see something about Doumeki's egg.

Hopefully, this manga will end in an open-ended fashion so that the story can be revisited in a new manga series, because there is so much in relation to Watanuki, Doumeki, and the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle gang.

(Due to some shortsighted post repositioning, this post now is in this thread, but it is still relevant and hopefully adds to the flow of discussion. )

---

Okay. So, I have now read the chapter, and I can clearly see that this is the end. Yuuko's back. This chapter, while only a setup chapter, was still beautifully done and makes me anticipate the end.

Yuuko and Watanuki's final conversation is probably going to make me cry. (I hope it makes me cry. Make it just that beautiful, CLAMP! ) It shall be nice to see Watanuki show a bit more emotion. Since the time skip, his more stoic attitude has been somewhat disheartening to me.

I like feisu-chan's prediction, although I am hoping that, while Clow Reed is mentioned, he is left still looming mysteriously in an uncertain condition. Clow Reed is the most mysterious character of the CLAMP universe to me, and I don't want his mystery ended so abruptly without more buildup of his story. I am still hoping that the events of the CCS/TRC/xxxHolic multiverse will be picked up in a future CLAMP work.

 

[<.Haruka.>]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

I like Feisu's prediction on the last chapter too.
I agree with Tsukisama that this manga might end in an open-ended fashion like what happened from the previous clamp's works (e.g. TRC) because there are always possibilities where the characters in holic
would reappear in other series.
Though I'm quite dissapointed that the manga's conclusion would end in 1 chapter. I just hope that 1 and final chapter could resolve, if not all some of the major questions/dilemmas from the main characters.

Butterfly is a symbol of afterlife and also rebirth (so feisu's theory of reincarnation could be right also).
I've also read on wiki regarding butterfly symbolism, there's one Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you.
If this old belief applies to them, I just can't tell what kind of love (relationship) defines them now.
Also I wonder if this time, Yuuko will be the customer (requestor), and if so, i'm just eager to know what will be her wish and message to Watanuki.

Anyway, just few more weeks 'til the last chapter comes out and ease my anticipation.

 

[DiegoAnime3000]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

I can´t wait for the next chapter. I hope the last chapter explain what is the egg for or how did Yuko return. I don´t think we can see Himawari one more time in the manga but her seiyuu is in the new OAD so I hope we can "see" her instead just listen her in a phonecall like the other OAD she may change a lot cause we can see her hair in chapter 199
and it´s really long but if she became a wife maybe she cut her hair (I hope no).

CCS and TRC end with a open-end like: See you in the next manga! I
agree with Tsukisama, I hope Clamp picked up the events of TRC and xxxHolic in another work (maybe in another 10 years in the manga of course). Maybe the next protagonists of Clamp Multiverse could be Watanuki and Syaoran sons or descendants.

I was thinking that maybe Yuko was alive all the time. Watanuki´s father said before disappear: If the Creator dies then the creations will die too even if they reincarnated. If Yuko and Clow are dead then how the Mokonas are still alive? and maybe Maru and Moro are creations of Yuko as well. Maybe in the next chapter: After the last conversation between Watanuki and Yuko. He leaves the shop cause he meet Yuko in that dream. He´ll continue with his live, meet Himawari´s husband, take care of Maru, Moro, Mokona and the shop and continue forward in time changing and growing as always have to be.

 

[Tsukisama]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

I was thinking that maybe Yuko was alive all the time. Watanuki´s father said before disappear: If the Creator dies then the creations will die too even if they reincarnated. If Yuko and Clow are dead then how the Mokonas are still alive? and maybe Maru and Moro are creations of Yuko as well. Maybe in the next chapter: After the last conversation between Watanuki and Yuko. He leaves the shop cause he meet Yuko in that dream. He´ll continue with his live, meet Himawari´s husband, take care of Maru, Moro, Mokona and the shop and continue forward in time changing and growing as always have to be.

That is a really interesting thought, Diego. I had not really thought about it, but you are right that the Mokona are the creations of Yuuko and Clow. Perhaps there was some sort of ceremony in which Watanuki became their new masters in a similar fashion as to what happened with Kero and Yue when Sakura became their master.

I too hope that this last meeting will result in Watanuki moving forward again. I want him to grow older and experience life, but I don't know if that is possible given his connection to Syaoran. We'll see soon!

 

[DiegoAnime3000]

Re: xxxHolic and TRC Crossovers in Kobato Anime

There is something I can´t understand. In episode 17, Watanuki appears as the shop owner but in episode 22, Touya Kinomoto appears but he looks so young. If Watanuki is Sakura Kinomoto son then why his brother looks so young? xxxHolic Rou takes place at least 27 years after Sakura Card Captor. Any Ideas?

 

[DiegoAnime3000]

Re: Haruka's death and appearance in dreams.

I don´t think Haruka is dead. In chapter 194, the lunar rabbit come to Watanuki shop. The rabbit mentions that If Watanuki travels in dreams too much time then He wouldn´t be able to return. Maybe Haruka is not dead. Maybe he stay in the dream world a long time and he can no longer return. If he is trapped in the dream world then his body in the real world looks like a corpse and he was presumed dead.

But at the same time I have a theory. Himawari mentions that when she was young her grandma took her to an exorcist and he told her about her bad luck. In episode 5, after Doumeki said that Haruka was an exorcist and he died when he was in the elementary school, Himawari have a flashback about the exorcist she meet and he touch her head. Maybe Himawari kills Haruka after the visit but I don´t think Haruka could died so easy, he was afraid about her bad luck after all.

 

[gosakurago]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

for some reason, i actually have this feeling that watanuki is going to go with yuuko. dont ask why, i just feel that yuuko telling watanuki to move on and start aging again would b kinda anti-climactic for clamp. not to mention that watanuki already traded his 'time' away for... something, i cant remember wat. haha

as for everyone else, im pretty sure we'll get a quick glimpse of Himawari. i think we will get a much more in depth look at doumeki and kohane (especially with that egg)

 

[Dorothy]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

OMG I can't wait for the chapter... and I think that it could be sad to don't see Himawari for the last time, I miss her a lot...
I wish for a happy ending...

 

[feisu-chan]

Re: xxxHolic 212 Discussion/213 (Final Chapter) Predictions Thread

Hey guys! Only a few days away until the final chapter! I'm feeling bittersweet about it...

Anyway, I've just watch xxxHolic Rou OVA today, and it's a whole new arc apart from the ones in the manga. While I'm not sure whether it was CLAMP who wrote the storyline, somehow I believe that this OVA is a foreshadowing of how xxxHolic is going to end.

Well, at the end of the OVA,

Spoiler

Yuuko had a message for Watanuki through the Izuna user they had helped, and it was recorded by Doumeki in a video. In Yuuko's voice, she said: Tadaima, Watanuki. (I'm home, Watanuki) And after Watanuki had replayed that scene over and over, he replied: Okaeri-nasai, Yuuko. (Welcome back, Yuuko)

I wouldn't want to read into it that much, but I don't think this meant that Yuuko is literally back in the shop. I would still put CLAMP's principles into consideration, i.e. the dead cannot be resurrected. I'm thinking that maybe Yuuko is back in that world, modern Japan, in another form. She was reincarnated, and eventually into the same world as with Watanuki.

Relating it to the manga, maybe Yuuko's anticipated visit in Watanuki's dream would finally help Watanuki understand that Yuuko has indeed been resurrected. And the butterfly in his dream seems to want Watanuki to do something. Again, I believe that Yuuko wants Watanuki to be freed from the responsibility of "holding the shop".

With Yuuko's resurrection, maybe the time had been fixed or something, or at least freed Watanuki of being 'caged' in the shop. Doumeki would choose Watanuki's freedom and the egg will be the key to it.

 

[repme]

xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

Read raw here

 

[Snowolf]

Re: xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

I honestly don't know what to say. It seems like an open ended chapter, but I can't help but be extremely disappointed with the rushed ending. Basically from what I got of this, Yuuko just pops up to say that Watanuki shouldn't be weighed down and that he's free to go using a long winded analogy of him being a bird in a cage. And then she disappears and whoopdy freaking doo, it's Watanuki and Doumeki on a friggin porch again drinking sake.

I REQUIRE A BUCKET FOR MY CREYS.

---

Translation (2 pages missing) can be found here:
http://starlady38.livejournal.com/420704.html

Interesting but definitely shocking.

 

[shukketsumaru]

Re: xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

Meh, I'm not surprised at all, it's CLAMP after all. Though I'm surprised it was 100 years. A bit dissappointed it was just Watanuki, Doumeki (the third), and Yuuko's silent apparition. No Monoka, boo.
So...apparently the egg contains Watanuki's memories of Yuuko?

 

[<.Haruka.>]

Re: xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

Yay! final chapter...
The english scans is up on Failmanga's site.

And I agree with Snowolf, two pages were missing (pg. 26 and pg. 27).
Here's a chinese scans site where I found complete pages, i think... http://www.dm5.com/Comic/MH83/Comics-83157_323cfb36_page-1.htm

The end was quite simple and yes its an open ended chapter where I think there's lot of unanswered questions for some of the characters in the story except for Yuuko.
I was quite intrigued with the egg, because it was not used by the grandson of Doumeki to erase Watanuki's memories of Yuuko. I do hope there would be an epilogue chapter like on TRC.
And yes, I was looking for Maru, Moro and Mokona, even just a glimpse of them since they belong to the shop with Watanuki.
It just feels like that the last chapter wasn't the end of the story, but anyway, i enjoyed reading the manga especially the early chapters.

 

[pupujohn]

Re: xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

What the Freeze? I knew purchasing all those xxxholic books might be a mistake. Hot D! Seriously, I understand that modern asian writers adopted and flourished on the cryptic ending from the influx of "Western" arts, but seriously, this is going much to far!
Perhaps it's all my lack of satisfaction; for years, xxxholic has been my favorite and I still love the all of the series, but this VERY Large Open ended Ending only reminds me of my bad investments in X1999 and Legal Drug. -_- oh well, I'll pull them out to look at the beautiful art and try to forget the lack of stability behind the clamp name when it comes to adult fiction.
Still I can't help but thank the Manga Editors and the artists themselves for giving so many unwinding hours of relaxation. I especially thank the Manga Editors. thank you, thank you.

Moderator Notice:
Sorry, made the font a lil' bigger ^^~ ibra87

 

[oralyon]

Re: xxxHolic 213 Discussion (Final Chapter)

It's a really sad ending but I don't see how it could have been any otherwise. He simply couldn't see Yuuko anymore, Deads do not comes back, as every Clamp manga have previously said. In the end Watanuki never learned what Yuuko tried to teach him.

I think at this point, it's pretty obvious that Watanuki is somehow FeiWan Lead. Like the final chapter of tsubasa state, Feiwan was some sort of images of the wish to bring back Yuuko, a being that exist solely for that purpose. After waiting for a 100 years, I think it's clear that this is pretty much what Watanuki is.

Someone on some other forum made the remark that as the chapter went on, less and less caracters were involved. Kohane, Himawari, Maru, Moro and even Mokona got out of the pictures one after the other. Maybe that's kind of what they were going for. As time passed, Watanuki became more and more retired form his relationship with everyone and from reality.

The only thing that isn't anwsered is how he could be Feiwan Lead and how it would fit with the whole time paradox from Tsubasa, but it's not that significant. The evidence for Watanuki being FeiWan are simply too huge.

On a final note, did you notice the moon at the top of the final page. Kind of remind me of the soul that Feiwan lead stole that fly toward the moon in volume 5 right here

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/xxxholic/v05/c030/43.html